


Establishing Precedent

by mouse42



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 08:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6276802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mouse42/pseuds/mouse42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Falcon runs into a little legal trouble while saving the city. </p><p>“All right, Mr. Wilson,” Foggy said, clicking his pen before tapping it on the writing pad in front of him, “When you pulled the alleged Hydra agent out of the stolen car, did you aim it towards the school bus or did it just sort of go that way by itself?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Establishing Precedent

Matt didn’t love all his superhuman abilities. Smell, in particular, caused him no end of difficulties, mostly because humans just weren’t meant to have such sensitive noses. As a kid, after the accident, his brain didn’t have any way to classify most of what hit his sniffer, so ‘bad’ ended up being his default interpretation. It took him awhile to get over it. He had to take public transportation, after all.

People, though – people smells were something else. The deodorant, shampoo, perfume, the unwashed sweat socks, and the weird smell that emanated from under fingernails, none of that was even the strangest of it. No, it was the emotional smell that creeped through people’s pores that freaked him out the most, even after all these years of dealing with it.

Irritation, aggravation, frustration, anger, all very sour and unpleasant, caused a primitive part of his brain’s olfactory system to wake up in response, his heartbeat going just a little faster in a sympathetic reaction. And, as with most initial consultations with clients, he was drowning in it right now, with the acrid addition of machine oil, metal, and smoke.

“All right, Mr. Wilson,” Foggy said, clicking his pen before tapping it on the writing pad in front of him, “When you pulled the alleged Hydra agent out of the stolen car, did you aim it towards the school bus or did it just sort of go that way by itself?”

Sam Wilson shifted stiffly in his chair. Matt could tell he was tense, that his arms were crossed, and he could guess at the expression on his face. Hopefully this wasn’t his usual stance because a jury would hate it.

“I didn’t aim it,” Sam said in a tight, low voice. “Look, the not-at-all-alleged Hydra agent may have turned the wheel when I yanked him through the driver’s side window but can we please keep in mind that the school bus was parked and empty? And that nobody got hurt?”

“Ah, but somebody could have been hurt, and that’s more or less the point,” Foggy said.

He smelled a little tired, but also pretty good, all things considered. New cologne, Matt thought, subtle, not overbearing, definitely not something Foggy would pick out himself. He’d have to ask him about that later.

“And ‘alleged’ my ass,” Sam said. “That guy is a Hydra agent through and through, doing the whole ‘Hail Hydra’ thing –“

“Whoa, whoa!” Foggy said waving his arms frantically. “Don’t do or say that any place where you can be photographed ok? Matt, he just did the Hydra salute.”

“I figured.” Matt shook his head. “I can say, ‘yabba dabba doo’ but that doesn’t automatically make me a Flintstone.”

“Although having a pet dinosaur would be so cool,” Foggy said as an aside.

“So cool,” Matt agreed, “but the point is, until we have actual proof that he is a Hydra agent, in the eyes of the law, he’s just an alleged Hydra agent. Now, Mr. Wilson, why did you make the choice to pull him through the window while the car was in motion? We need to know precisely what led you to make that decision.”

“He had a remote detonator in his hand for the very, very large bomb in the basement of the Department of Health!” Sam said, starting to lose his cool. Matt could feel the temperature of his skin rising along with his voice. “If he’d driven another 35 feet, there wouldn’t be a lower Manhattan right now. So, yeah, I smashed the window and dragged him out of the car. There were no other options, we were completely out of options.”

“And your coworker…”

“Black Widow.”

“Right, Black Widow...” Foggy shuffled some papers around. “She was working on disarming the bomb. Had she made any success with that prior to you pulling the alleged Hydra agent out of the stolen car?”

“I don’t know! We weren’t in communication at the time.” The chair squeaked as Sam abruptly stood up, attempting to pace in the small office before giving up and leaning against the far wall with a thud. “This is such B.S. Kinda funny how I’m the only Avenger being brought up on charges right now, isn’t it?”

“Well, you did destroy a stolen car, a school bus, and a memorial bench,” Matt started, but Foggy interrupted.

“No, no, Mr. Wilson, we’re not going to play it that way.”

“Play it what way?” Upon Foggy’s faintly whispered, “Vital stats”, Matt flipped back to the first page Karen had printed for him. He ran his fingers over his client’s biography. “Oh, yeah. Bad idea Mr. Wilson. For a lot of reasons.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Foggy said. “First of all, judges hate it.”

“And so do juries.”

“Also public opinion.”

“And the media loves it,” Matt finished, “but not for the reasons that would help your case at all.”

“I’m just saying, Steve Rogers would not have to put up with this crap.” He sat back down hard in his chair.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Foggy said, “but at the end of the day, an out of control stolen car did crash into a school bus – “

“And a memorial bench,” Matt added.

“Yes, thanks, Mr. Murdock, and a memorial bench, destroying all three. An alleged Hydra agent, who is still a person by the way, may or may not be injured and is being denied his right to due process as we speak. You see how sticky this is getting?”

“I had to stop him, ok?”

“Under whose authority?” Foggy asked. “I’m not saying I’m not grateful, because I am. We’ve lost enough of New York City at this point as it is. But, as far as the State of New York and its City are concerned, you don’t have any authority at all to go flying around the city stopping crimes. There is a reason we as a society have decided that vigilantism is not for us. It’s unjust, it’s dangerous, and it results in blown up school buses fortunately not full of kids. Isn’t that right, Mr. Murdock?”

“Yeah,” Matt said, hiding a wince as Foggy very deliberately kicked him under the table. “Vigilantism, definitely a bad thing. If only due to these kind of legal issues if nothing else.”

“Where is the alleged Hydra agent now?” Foggy asked.

“Are you guys my lawyers or my interrogators?” Sam replied, clearly annoyed.

“At the moment, we’re both,” Matt said. “You need to be honest with us and tell us everything, Mr. Wilson, if we’re going effectively represent you.”

“Fine.” Sam said. “He was turned over to S.H.I.E.L.D. to be interviewed.”

“Are you planning on rehiring him?” Foggy asked with a laugh. “Because isn’t this the same S.H.I.E.L.D. whose membership was seemingly 50% Hydra for the last 70 years or so? You must see there’s a conflict of interest here.”

“He may have information about future terrorist attacks,” Sam said. “We need to find out what he knows.”

“You don’t think Homeland Security or the F.B.I. or the C.I.A want that information, too?” asked Foggy. “And, to be frank, they’re entitled to it. You’re not.”

“We stopped him from blowing up part of New York City,” Sam said. “We did. Not Homeland Security or the F.B.I. or the C.I.A. Just us, our team.”

Foggy heaved a sigh, dropping his pen onto the desk. Matt felt him move, knew he was doing that thing where he messaged his temples with both hands, as if he could make the entire world stop being stupid for a few minutes by sheer force of will. It never worked, of course.

“Did you ever read comic books when you were a kid, Mr. Wilson?” Foggy asked.

Sam shifted in his seat. “Uh, yeah? I guess.”

“You ever notice how, after the superhero has saved the day and foiled the villains’ terrible plan, that he leaves said villains tied to a drain pipe or a lamp post or something for the police to come pick up later?”

“That’s a comic book,” Sam said, sounding defensive again. They were really going to need to work on that if they went to trial. “This is the real world.”

“Exactly!” Foggy said. “And in this real world, the rules from those comic books do apply. S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers do not have any authority to imprison or interrogate people.”

“The bottom line is, you don’t get to keep him,” Matt said. “It’s kidnapping.”

“Not just kidnapping.” Foggy flipped through the case file. “They’ve also added on aiding and abetting. Since you helped him avoid police custody, they even want to add an accessory charge. These are federal charges on top of the destruction of property, Mr. Wilson. I’m surprised they even set bail for you, considering you’re such a…” Foggy paused and Matt knew, just _knew_ he was going to say it. “Such a flight risk.”

Matt bit back a groan and returned Foggy’s kick from earlier.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Sam said and even Matt could feel the roll of his eyes.

“Seriously, though, it’s a show of goodwill from the court and the DA’s office,” Matt said. “They recognize the good things you’ve done to help save people, to help save the city. We want to strengthen that goodwill.”

“And by that, we mean you’ll need to turn over that alleged Hydra agent to the appropriate authorities.”

Sam was silent for a minute, then Matt could sense him moving his head.

“He’s nodding his head in the affirmative,” Foggy said, sotto voce

“Sorry, sorry,” Sam said suddenly, “forgot you couldn’t, well… Anyway, yeah. I’ll talk to my people if you make the arrangements to transfer custody.”

“Thank you,” Matt said, “we can do that. So much depends on how this case turns out.”

“My future, yeah.”

“Not just that, Mr. Wilson,” Foggy said. “Now, vigilantism, not a legal gray area at all, pretty black and white. But aliens? 20 foot tall monsters? Magic and people with super powers? This is all new. We’re establishing precedent. What happens with this case will determine not only your future, but everyone else’s, like that hawk guy, Tony Stark, Spiderman or…”

“Don’t you guys have a guy around?” Sam said. “Devil Dude? Devil…”

“Daredevil,” Matt said quickly. “They’re calling him Daredevil, I think. Uh, right Mr. Nelson? Daredevil?

“Yeah, Daredevil,” Foggy said with a surprising lack of sarcasm and disdain. “Our own resident costumed weirdo.”

Ah, there it was.

“We watched some of that surveillance footage of him awhile back,” Sam said, sounding thoughtful. “Natasha said he had some good moves, obviously well-trained.”

“You’re watching him?” Matt said, trying to keep the… well, something out of his voice. It was weird that now, when he so wanted to talk like a normal person, he was having an awful lot of trouble remembering how to do that. “Just out of curiosity or...”

“Anytime a new guy comes on the scene, we always look a little closer, you know?” Sam said. “Try to figure out if he’s a hero or a pscyho.”

“So, what’s the verdict around the old Avenger’s watercooler?” Foggy asked, sounding far too amused.

“About 50-50.”

“Well, at any rate,” Matt said, resisting the urge to kick Foggy again as he chuckled, “you understand now the broad implications of your case?”

Sam sighed. “Yeah, I do. I mean, I always did. We knew something like this was going to happen at some point. Still ticked it happened to me, but, it is what it is, you know? We’ll just have to move forward.”

“Precisely,” Foggy said. “Now, your home and work information you gave Karen is correct, yes?”

“Yeah, work is the Avengers training facility upstate.”

“Good, now I think it goes without saying, and, I’m sorry, pardon the pun, but you are grounded for the time being, you understand?” Foggy said. “Until this case is over, you are either at your home address, your work address, or traveling between the two by conventional means. I don’t want to turn on the TV and see you fighting giant alien robots in Latveria, ok?”

Sam gave a low laugh. “Two feet on the ground at all times.”

“Great. Now, one final thing.” Foggy shuffled some papers again. “I’m going to give you this very handy piece of paper. It has on it two very useful phrases.   First one is, ‘No Comment’. You see? I wrote it here in 72 point font. And right below that is the second one, which says, ‘Please direct any questions to my lawyers.’ These two sentences are the only things you will ever say to anyone if they ask about this case. This includes the police, the media, your mother, your coworkers, the pope, your goldfish, anyone. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“Let’s practice, just to be sure,” Matt said. “Mr. Wilson, what can you tell us about the case? Did you mean to blow up a school bus?”

“No comment,” Sam said, and Matt could hear his smile, “and please direct any questions to my lawyer.”

“Perfect!” Foggy said.

Matt nodded in agreement. “You’re a natural.”

“Oh, and we also have a wallet-sized version, if you need a reminder.”

Sam laughed out loud this time. “It’s laminated.”

“We’re defense attorneys, Mr. Wilson, we order them in bulk,” Foggy said.

“I think you guys might be crazy,” Sam said, “but I’m getting the impression crazy is what I need right now.”

“Glad to oblige,” Matt said just as Foggy’s cellphone chirped.

“That’s Karen,” he said. “She’s downstairs with the rental car to take you back to your place, Mr. Wilson.”

“Great,” he said, standing up. Matt and Foggy did the same.

“We’ll take care of this for you, talk to the DA, see about arranging the transfer,” Matt said, putting his hand out to shake Sam’s. “And thank you, Mr. Wilson, for stopping the city from exploding. Again.”

“Yeah, we’re getting kind of tired of it,” Foggy added. “Let me show you out. The elevator’s kind of finicky.”

Matt sat back down, extending his senses to follow them through the building. Sam left much more at ease then when he came in, the fear and agitation no longer tickling at Matt’s brain. It made him feel better about the prep work they’d have to do to get him ready to be in the courtroom, if it came down to that. With any luck, the DA wouldn’t push them to trial. Matt stood to make some fresh coffee as he heard Foggy taking the stairs back up to their floor.

“We’re representing an Avenger,” Foggy declared as soon as the door clicked shut behind him.

Matt shrugged. “He’s more of a B-list Avenger, really.”

“Like you’re one to talk, there’s a fifty-fifty chance he thinks you’re a psycho.”

“Fine by me.”

Foggy scoffed. “Oh, come on, seriously?”

“You said it yourself,” Matt said, picking up his coffee mug. “I’m the tie the bad guy to the drain pipe type and they’re the kidnap a guy, take him to a privately run gulag, and interrogate and possibly torture the guy for information type in total violation of civil liberties and the United States Constitution. Not my scene. Is this clean?” He tilted the empty mug in Foggy’s direction.

“Clean enough,” Foggy said. “Still, maybe you should get in contact with them. At the very least they could hook you up with some body armor.”

“I got a guy who makes body armor.”

“You got a guy working out of a rat-infested warehouse who can produce, at best, one piece of month, less if he has to make repairs. By the time he completely finishes your suit, you’ll be a greasy stain in an alley somewhere.”

Matt carefully poured the coffee into his mug, resting his finger just below the lip so it didn’t overflow. “I trust Melvin. I don’t trust anyone else aside from you.”

“I just don’t think this is a resource we should be overlooking, that’s all. Promise me you’ll think about it?”

The fear smell surrounded Foggy, like it did so often these days. Nothing overt, nothing Foggy was probably even aware of, but it signaled a constant underlying stress that Matt had no trouble feeling terribly guilty about.

“I’ll think about it,” Matt promised, sitting back down at his desk. “Maybe Stark will make me a suit that flies and shoots missiles.”

“Oh, lord, a flying blind man with heavy artillery,” Foggy said dramatically, leaning back in his own chair. “It’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

Matt smiled. “At least I know a good lawyer.”

The End


End file.
